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Rothesay County Championship Division One, Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton (day four)
Worcestershire 154 & 485-9: D'Oliveira 121, Waite 87, Hose 82, Ali 51; Leach 4-107
Somerset 670-7 dec: Banton 371, Rew 152, Abell 52; Finch 2-104
Somerset (16 pts) drew with Worcestershire (9 pts)
Worcestershire captain Brett D'Oliveira's defiant century, along with superb last-day resistance from Matthew Waite, helped Worcestershire to an unlikely County Championship draw with Somerset at Taunton.
Beginning the day on 280-5 in their second innings, still 236 short of making their hosts bat again, the visitors closed on 485-9, D'Oliveira contributing a rock solid 121, while Waite made an equally invaluable 87 not out.
Jack Leach returned 4-103 to claim his 500th first-class wicket but Ben Allison, Tom Taylor and last man Tom Hinley all played their parts in a committed rearguard action that left Somerset hugely frustrated.
It took Somerset 20 minutes to make the first breakthrough when Kasey Aldridge found a way past an immaculate looking defensive shot from nightwatchman Adam Finch to bowl him for eight.
But it proved the home side's only success of a morning session, in which D'Oliveira and Waite met good-length balls with solid defence, while capitalising on any width offered. But an all-too-typical last-day Taunton pitch under cloudless skies offered little in the way of spin, seam movement or variable bounce.
By lunch, Worcestershire had progressed to 337-6 with D'Oliveira unbeaten on 99 and Waite on 22 as Aldridge and off-spinner Archie Vaughan posed most problems.
They opened up after lunch with no great impact as D'Oliveira patiently awaited the right ball to reach his hundred, with an overpitched delivery from Aldridge and a sweetly-timed off-drive for four.
He and Waite continued to look in total control, literally bringing Somerset to their knees at times as the close fielders desperately hoped for an edge off the spinners.
Waite moved to a patient fifty before D'Oliveira's intense feat of concentration spanning five hours and 40 minutes came to an unfortunate end.
Thrusting his front pad well outside off stump to a wide delivery from Vaughan and playing no shot, he was given out lbw when the ball turned sharply and appeared to strike his back leg.
With a third new ball due in seven overs, Somerset sensed it was a pivotal wicket and celebrated as though the game was wony, wth Worcestershire 415-7 at tea, still 101 behind.
Having employed mainly spin, including that of triple centurion Tom Banton, Somerset got through their overs quickly enough to take the new ball immediately after the interval.
Skipper Lewis Gregory shared it with Craig Overton, who struck the next blow in the fifth over after the break when Allison, on 22, fended a short ball straight to Tom Lammonby at short mid-wicket.
Still Worcestershire resisted, the obdurate Waite having been joined by Taylor and the final hour began with Somerset having a minimum of 16 overs to claim the last two wickets, while Vaughan and Leach operated with fielders clustered around the bat.
Leach ended Taylor's stubborn effort of 12 off 68 balls when he edged to second slip with 8.3 overs remaining to give the England spinner his milestone 500th victim. But 22-year-old left-hander Hinley showed a maturity beyond his years to see out 44 balls, while Waite defied everything that Somerset could throw at him.
Somerset skipper Lewis Gregory:
"We are hugely frustrated. We have a quality bowling attack and I'm proud of their performance on a bang average wicket that offered them nothing.
"That is not the sort of pitch we wanted for our first game or for the remaining seven Championship fixtures here.
!While it feels like we have let eight points slip away, it was still a great start to the campaign in many respects."
Worcestershire head coach Alan Richardson told BBC Hereford & Worcester:
"We spoke at the start of play about it being a great opportunity to do something special. The spirit shown by the players against a very good side was tremendous.
"Brett D'Oliveira is a fantastic leader as well as a really top player. But Matthew Waite was also superb and so many other players chipped in.
"I wouldn't go as far as to say it feels like a win, because we were outplayed for much of the game, but we can take so much from this."
ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
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